The Deputy Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Zdenko Antesic, said the concession was awarded for a period of 30 years and referred to the construction of a new passenger terminal and the operation of the existing terminal and the future terminal and their infrastructure.

ZAIC is expected to build the terminal with the annual capacity of five million passengers in three years, and total capital investments in the first stage amount to 236 million euros, with an additional 88 million euros for regular maintenance. The Croatian companies Viadukt and Zagorje Tehnobeton will be in charge of most of the construction work.

The total amount of concession fees over the 30-year period is 1.94 billion euros or the net current value of EUR 534 million, Antesic said.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that the project was of economic interest to Croatia and Zagreb because the city's airport was "decent but small" and had not been either renewed or expanded since 1990.

"In this part of Europe, Croatia has the biggest air traffic potential and I believe that the concession model is profitable for us," said Milanovic.

The government gave its consent for the road operator Hrvatske Ceste to take a 110-million-euro loan to finance its loan obligations in the first quarter of this year, which also requires government collateral.

The government also decided that Croatia would not take part in this year's world exhibition EXPO 2012, to be held in Korea, because the necessary funding in the amount of seven million kuna was not envisaged in the budget.